reality blog

PREPARE YOUR WITNESS PT. 2

/ joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

In 2024 God has given us direction that we are to fast and pray that we would be prepared. We have been given a congregational sentence that comes through the many prophetic words which have been spoken to us over the last year or so. That sentence says: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“

I have broken these seven prepare statements into 21 daily devotionals which I am posting here on Mondays. This is week 14.

Photo by George Dolgikh on Pexels.com

DAY 14: Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example).

Last week we talked about earning the right to speak by building relationships with the people all around us. We talked about being an example of Jesus love to all men. The easiest way to build relationships and share our example is according to our gifts. “Gifts” is what the Bible calls them. In today’s terms we would probably use the words “personality traits” instead of the word “gifts”. We are not talking about talents or abilities like guitar playing or being good at football. We certainly aren’t talking about Christmas presents or birthday presents. We are talking about our character traits.

We will build relationships easily when we build them while going with the grain of our character. Let’s talk about the 7 most prominent “gifts” or “personality/ character traits.”

We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your[a] faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead,[b] do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. Romans 12: 6-8

The Prophet’s personality- is focused on what goes on under the surface. They are sensitive to people’s emotions and spiritual conditions. Prophet’s should focus on building relationships out of their empathy and desire to see people grow emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Prophets love to sit and have deep conversations based on feelings and thoughts. They love helping people bring context to their feelings.

The Servant’s Personality– is focused on helping. “How can I help?” is the servant’s natural and desired first response. The servant builds relationship by helping people where they need it. It is often what they do not what they say that causes people to know and love them.

The Teacher’s personality– is focused on helping people acquire knowledge. The teacher builds relationships best with people who want to learn. Teachers do well when they are helping someone discover something new in life.

DO YOU RECOGNIZE YOURSELF IN ANY OF THESE “GIFTS”? IF NOT DO NOT WORRY THERE ARE MORE GIFTS TO COME.

Garden Labors

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We are about three weeks from planting the vegetable gardens. I was just having a discussion with one of my subscribers in Virginia about how here in Massachusetts we can’t put in our annual gardens until Memorial Day or after. That is not to say there is nothing to do. I have been moving day lilies around the yard for the last week to make room for new growth.

Today my son and daughter-in-law and I moved the garden boxes into their new locations. Three of these boxes are really old. I am kind of shocked they withstood the move.

One of the three boxes did not. But that is OK. I might be able to salvage the ends for some thing or other.

My daughter in law made our first cut flower vase of the season this morning as well.

This is one of the little niceties I am hoping to add to the Vicarage this year. I want to use what is on the property to beautify our lives. Other than that what is the point of garden labors?

This afternoon I am going to tackle the Japanese knotweed patch at the side of the house and gather the old stalks for burning. Maybe tonight we will have a fire.

Festival of Spring 2024 Week 7

/ joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

HERE WE ARE WEEK NUMBER 7 ALREADY OF THIS TWELVE WEEK CHALLENGE FROM DAWN.

After you are done reading here, you can check out Dawn’s post and the posts of her other contributors by clicking the capitalized link above.

The nights here are still really chilly, but the days are getting warmer (up into the sixties anyway). I know Spring has arrived when the dandelions begin to bloom.

The Mayflowers are a sure sign too.

and the forsythia.

There is a. certain light that comes in the evenings at this time of year. It is refreshing. It makes me want to garden and clean things. That is bow spring makes me feel. HOW DOES SPRING MAKE YOU FEEL?

PREPARE YOUR WITNESS PT. 1

/ joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

This year God has given our church direction that we are to prepare. We have been given a congregational sentence that comes through the many prophetic words which have been spoken to us over the last year or so. That sentence says: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“

These seven prepare statements will be broken down into 21 devotionals which I will share over 21 weeks. This wee we are on.

DEVOTIONAL NUMBER 13: Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). 

In the days ahead our Christian example will be such an important part of our witness it will far outweigh our words. 

Preparing our witness is going to involve us earning the right to speak by treating the people around us…all the people around us, in such a way that they will be convinced that our message bears weight. This involves loving…truly loving the people God is calling us to.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 1 Cor. 13:4-7

A Day Of Closure, A Day of Beginning

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Today was Mom’s celebration of life. There are lots of things I can hardly believe. I can hardly believe it has been three weeks since she passed. I can hardly believe how my life and schedule have changed in those three weeks. I can hardly believe Brenda will be returning to her mission in The Netherlands next Thursday. I can hardly believe the changes I see yet to come.

Today we gathered at the family plot in Silver Lake Cemetery in Athol MA. It was a beautiful Spring day spent with family and friends. The last members of Mom’s generation were present for the celebration: Uncle Tom and Aunt Carol from her side (Mom’s last remaining sister and brother-in-law) and from my Dad’s side: his cousin Barbara and her husband Bob, Dad’s cousin Dana and Dad’s cousin Dick with Dick’s wife, Elise. I think everyone else is gone from that great generation. My sister and I along with our cousins are now the elders of the family.

My grandson, Sevy (Joseph Elon Lillie VII) took up a place next to his namesake as soon as we got to the cemetery.

My father always called himself Jr. He was really Joseph Elon Lillie IV. It was really sweet how Sevy took up this spot and just kind of stayed there through the service. At least until the bubbles started.

The service began with “Amazing Grace” and ended with a Lawrence Welk favorite of my mother’s, “Goodnight! Goodnight!” complete with the bubble machine. I am thinking my cousin Terrie was not enjoying the bubbles as much as the kids.

The church threw us a wonderful family reception after the graveside service. Here is Brenda and I with our cousin Renee at the reception.

It was a day of mourning and a day of laughter. It was day of closure and a day of beginning.

SHARING MY WORLD FROM APRIL 22ND ON APRIL 26TH 2024

/ joseph elon lillie / 3 Comments

THIS POST IS WRITTEN IN RESPONSE TO PENSITIVITY 101’S WEEKLY SHARE YOUR WORLD CHALLENGE.

You can click the link above to go and see how other bloggers answered the challenge.

HERE ARE THE QUESTIONS AND MY ANSWERS:

1. Have you ever attended a First Aid Course? It has been years but there was a time I was First Aid/ CPR/MED and RBV trained for my job. Those trainings served me well in working with the disabled population in my area.
2. Apart from grazed knees and applying a band aid, have you ever applied First Aid? Actually my First Aid training was some of the least utilized training I had. I used my Med certification all the time and my RBV (responding to violent behavior and deescalation) training a lot.
3. Are you squeamish about the sight of blood? No blood doesn’t bother me.
4. How far away is the nearest hospital? The nearest hospital is 15 minutes from my house and about 5 minutes up the road from the church. Living in Massachusetts we are blessed to have many hospitals close by. I know that is not the case with many locations in New Hampshire and Vermont or even Maine. I remember when one of my parishioners broke her hip in a nursing home up in New Hampshire they had to transfer her to Hartford CT for surgery.

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS THURSDAY

/ joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

Today would normally be the day on which I posted my Festival of Spring 2024 post, but this has not been a normal week, or maybe it is just the new normal.

Since Mom has passed we have all been relearning how to live life. Many of the folks in church told me that care-giving to the end of life, left the care-giver with a sense of identity loss, when all was said and done. I thought I believed them when they said it. I thought I knew what they meant. I also thought I had bolstered myself against that very thing by being “pastor”. I realize now, that it did not work as well as I had hoped. Maybe it worked as best as it could. Maybe like the rest of the grief process, coming to our new identities, apart from being Mom’s caregiver, is just going to take time and be a several step journey.

All that to say, I am not doing my Festival of Spring Post today. I will probably do that tomorrow. Today I will just blather on a bit about our lost identity.

In the last weeks we have had to relearn that someone does not always have to be home. The whole family can go out together whenever we want because no one has to sit with Mom. It actually took us about three days to figure that out and it still feels strange to do it, almost like a betrayal. It feels even stranger to come home to an empty house.

Learning silence is another part of this new identity. I had not realized it until I cancelled cable and shut the television off but the TV has been on for the better part of a decade from 7 AM until 10 PM everyday. Mom liked the noise and never wanted it off. We got used to eating our meals to the sound of “Murder She Wrote” or “Perry Mason”. The first time we gathered around the table for dinner, and the television was not on, there was this deep sense of peace and breath and a weird finality that felt at odds with the table conversation. I guess I thought I would be struggling with who I was or who I was going to become in this new phase of life. It’s not really that at all. I have plenty to do and I don’t really feel like I am a whole new person. Rather I am struggling with how to be in the world. I feel like I have a pretty good grip on who I am. It is the new world of silence and emptiness that feels alien to me.